This relates generally to doors and, more particularly, doors that form part of a vehicle.
Vehicles such as automobiles include doors for allowing passengers to enter and exit. Most vehicles have hinged doors that swing open at an angle to the vehicle. Hinged doors are typically operated manually and can be cumbersome for passengers to open and close. A passenger may also find it difficult to enter and exit the vehicle through a hinged door because the door itself may obstruct the passenger's path out of or into the vehicle.
Some vehicles use sliding doors that slide open along the side of the vehicle, providing an unobstructed path into and out of the vehicle. Sliding doors typically provide larger openings and easier access to the vehicle and are sometimes powered so that the doors can be opened and closed automatically.
Conventional sliding doors are restricted to move along a single path from a closed position to an open position. Since the sliding doors are bound by the three guide rails, the open position relative to the vehicle does not change and the path to the open position does not change. The inability to adjust the path of motion for a sliding door places undesirable limitations on the placement of sliding doors on vehicles and the types of vehicles with which sliding doors are compatible. For example, the inability to adjust the position of an open sliding door relative to the side of a vehicle prevents typical sliding doors from being used for front seats since the front tires may sometimes obstruct the door's path of motion.